Regulating Composite Platform Economy Services: Examining the Applicable Legal Framework in Light of Recent Judicial Developments

Abstract

Numerous platform operators provide composite services comprising electronic and non-electronic elements, whose legal classification has been highly debated. This is partly explained by the fact that theEU law regime applicable to information society services (ISS) is far more favourable to businesses than that applicable to other types of services. The most recent case-law, however, has noticeably strengthened Member State regulatory prerogatives regarding ISS by, inter alia, giving a whole new meaning to the provisions of the E-commerce Directive. This twenty-year old legal act certainly needed reshuffling, but the Court’s approach has created a high degree of uncertainty forMember States wishing to regulate ISS in compliance with their notification obligations. Further, the applicable legal framework fails to guarantee the freedom to provide composite platform economy services that classify as two independent services of offline and online nature. The present article presents the main takeaways from recent judgments and highlights the structural differences between the legal regime applicable to ISS and that applicable to other kind of services, as well as their shortcomings. Digital Single Market – Regulation of the platform economy – Composite services – notification – online platform liability – e-commerce – Digital Services Act – Directive 2000/31 – Directive 2015/1535 – Directive 2006/123